A vision of international HRM research

This editorial was written as a vision of IHRM research, to be both thought-provoking and to start a conversation that can continue to move the field forward. Starting with a brief outline of the field, the editorial emphasizes distinct research route trajectories charting the landscape and anatomy of HRM in an international context, focusing on HRM in multinational corporations (MNCs) as well as Comparative HRM and the related, but distinct, cross-cultural management thread. Additionally, the editorial accentuates the importance of context in IHRM research, explaining the resultant debate on adopting a universalist vs. a contextual paradigm. The editorial presents a future agenda for IHRM research, focusing on challenges of research sampling, appropriate methodologies, social impact and interdisciplinary research. Finally, the editorial introduces four featured articles from the 2nd Global Conference on IHRM. Each article represents an interesting take on comparative HRM and/or strategic IHRM in MNCs. The studies are clear examples of how context can be used to explain the phenomena being studied.